


The Ways of the Force

by idrilhadhafang



Series: Mentor Kylo, Student Poe [1]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angry Poe Dameron, Animal Death, Evil Snoke, Force Bond (Star Wars), Force Training, Force-Sensitive Poe Dameron, Knights of the Old Republic vibes, Kylo Ren Teaches Poe Dameron The Ways of the Force, Love/Hate, M/M, Past Abuse, Pre-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Slow Burn Poe Dameron/Kylo Ren, Teacher Kylo Ren
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-04
Updated: 2019-07-05
Packaged: 2020-06-09 15:58:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19479220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilhadhafang
Summary: A crash-landing on a swamp planet leads to unexpected developments for Poe and Kylo alike.





	1. Happy Landing

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by [firelord65](https://archiveofourown.org/users/firelord65/pseuds/firelord65) in the [darkpilothaven](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/darkpilothaven) collection. 
  * In response to a prompt by [firelord65](https://archiveofourown.org/users/firelord65/pseuds/firelord65) in the [darkpilothaven](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/darkpilothaven) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
> Force Sensitive Poe + Stuck Together Because The Plot Said So (trope) + Student/Teacher dynamic-ish  
> Canonverse, but doesn't have to follow canon plotlines. Whether or not Kylo is still trying to be First Order or not is up to you. I think it'd just be entertaining seeing the pair trying to cope with the fact that Kylo sort of knows what to do with the Force and Poe doesn't. Doesn't have to be legit student/teacher with any structure or roles or w/e. Just the general idea. 
> 
> Cheers :3
> 
> ——-
> 
> For firelord65. Sorry this took so long, by the way. I hope you enjoy!

Poe Dameron awoke from the wreckage of his X-wing, blinking, coughing, and forcing himself out of the wreckage along with BB-8 to examine his surroundings. It seemed like some sort of swamp planet that they’d been caught over when Kylo Ren and his miserable kriffing cronies decided to ambush them from hyperspace. 

They found them. That was what struck Poe most of all. Somehow, in the midst of everything...they’d found them. How? Poe supposed that it was nothing that mattered as much as contacting the Resistance. 

He took out his comm unit. It was cracked, badly. Good as ruined. It must have been ruined in the crash. Poe sighed in frustration. “There’s gotta be an outpost somewhere, buddy,” he said to BB-8. “Anywhere. Maybe we can...”

It was then that he heard a faint wheeze. He spun around in that moment, blaster out...but saw only the wreckage of the TIE fighter. Kylo’s TIE fighter. 

No, not Kylo’s, Poe corrected himself. Ben’s. That was why he ultimately couldn’t press the button to blow Kylo away. He should have. As leader of the Resistance, it was his duty. And yet, remembering the man he’d loved so much...

Poe couldn’t do it. Someone else had instead. Even as he walked over towards Kylo, who was lying in the wreckage of the TIE fighter, almost paralyzed, there were the most awful sounds coming from the masked man, and Poe gritted his teeth against the noises despite himself. 

BB-8 beeped in confusion. Poe nodded. “If he tries anything, I’ll shoot him.” And yet somehow, even the thought of pulling the trigger...

Besides, Kylo wasn’t really in any shape to try anything. Poe knew that much. Even wrenching the pretty-much-destroyed new mask from Kylo’s face, Poe saw that he was almost sickly pale, his breathing almost like a death rattle. 

He was still Ben, fundamentally. This Poe knew. There was an odd-looking thin line along his face where Rey had slashed him, but otherwise...he was still Ben. The face of Ben, even though his mind was all but twisted in that moment.

Getting Kylo out of the TIE fighter was a challenge. He was bigger than Poe, Poe knew that. Whatever they’d been feeding him in the First Order had put quite a bit of muscle on him. Still, Poe couldn’t just leave him there. After all...even if he wasn’t Ben Solo, Poe was still Poe, and he wouldn’t just leave someone to die. 

There was some sort of private shed Poe found just when his muscles were burning and he was contemplating if Kylo had put on more muscle solely to make rescuing him more difficult. Poe could have laughed in relief when he found the shed. Even as he laid Kylo down, BB-8 cocking his head in confusion at the sight of him, Poe couldn’t help but feel like his emotions had been stirred with a spoon. 

“How could you, Ben?” he said. 

Even as he dabbed cool water on Kylo’s forehead with a cloth, Kylo didn’t answer. Still that wheezing, that sort of wheezing that made it uncomfortable to be in the same room with him. 

“So the galaxy kriffing failed you,” Poe snapped. “You didn’t have to do any of this. You didn’t have to be a dictator. You could have been great, you could have been...kriffing hell, you could have been beautiful. I just know it. You didn’t have to try and conquer the galaxy. You didn’t have to kill your dad and invade my mind and kill the villagers on Jakku and...kriffing hell, there’s so much.”

He squeezed cool water from the cloth between Kylo’s cracked lips. 

“I wasn’t enough. I’m sorry. I wanted to be.” Poe’s voice cracked. “I...”

Kriff, why couldn’t he say it out loud? He had to. And yet he felt like three simple words — I love you — were stuck in his throat. 

Because apparently words didn’t have to make sense anymore. 

Kylo stirred, coughed. Then, “Where is my mask?”

”Has anyone said you really need to sort out your priorities?” Poe said. “At least I can understand you now.”

”Cute,” Kylo murmured. He looked around in that moment. “Where am I?”

”One of my teammates shot you down,” Poe said. “I took you to this shed. It’s a little beat-up, but I guess it’s better than being trapped in a TIE fighter.”

Kylo paused. Then, “I suppose.”

Silence. What did you say to someone who, the last time they met, they hurt you? In one of the worst ways you could possibly imagine? 

Then Kylo spoke. “It was necessary,” he said. “I do...wish there had been an alternative to hurting you...”

”Necessary. Sure.” Poe sighed, ran a hand through his hair. “Finding Luke didn’t even give you any closure, did it? Rey told me.”

”Hardly my fault he was a coward,” Kylo said. 

Poe glared at him. 

It was just then that he swore he felt something. It wasn’t like the interrogation, not really, where it felt like claws had dug into his mind. It was like, in a way, he was pushing gently into Kylo’s mind. Getting access. A thought, too clear. _He really doesn’t know, does he?_

“Can you hear me?” Poe couldn’t help but be unnerved, even with the unpleasant, un-Dameron-esque excitement prickling in his belly. Finally, an advantage he had over Kylo! “I...don’t know how, but I can hear you.”

”I can.” Kylo took a deep breath. “There were stories about Force Bonds formed in the Old Republic era...but I thought the bond with the scavenger was all I had.”

”What did you do to Rey?” Poe felt a sickening stab in his gut. 

“Nothing,” Kylo said. “It was Snoke. He...gloated about bringing our minds together.”

Poe didn’t know what to think of that. Not really. In a way, Snoke had violated both Kylo and Rey’s minds when he had bridged them. He couldn’t imagine a creature like Snoke obtaining consent. 

“Why?”

A sigh from Kylo. “To use us as pawns, I can only assume. Snoke was always a long-range schemer.” A beat. “Whatever this is...I suppose I have no choice but to teach you all I know.”

Long ago, Poe would have leapt at the opportunity. Now...now he just felt sick. 

“I won’t be your tool,” he said. 

“You won’t be. We’ll have to survive on this planet somehow. I doubt shooting a blaster alone will help.”

Silence. Poe weighed the options. He would have to trust Kylo — trust Ben in order to make it off this planet alive. But...

”I don’t trust you as far as I can throw you,” he said. “I don’t think I even admire you...as a person. But we’ll get off this planet, and there’s no guarantee we’ll have to interact like this ever again. I just have one condition. Well, two.”

Kylo nodded. 

“If you betray me, I’ll shoot you.”

”I thought that,” Kylo said. 

“And...” Somehow the next sentence was hard to force out. “Tell me the truth about what happened to you. Tell me how you became a monster.”

A nod from Kylo. “Gladly. Perhaps you’ll understand afterwards."

And even as he spoke, Poe couldn’t shake the thought that somehow he had made a deal with a monster. 


	2. Teaching Moment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kylo gives Poe his first lesson.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

They had to go out and hunt for food, as well as their weapons. Though when Poe got to Kylo’s TIE fighter, it had all but sunk into the marsh. So had Poe’s X-wing. 

Poe could swear that his heart was sinking with the ships. Then, “Can’t you get them out? With the Force?”

”I could, but I’m going to need your assistance,” Kylo said. “After all, I can’t lift two ships at once.”

Poe sighed. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say this was a set-up for a teaching moment.”

”You could call it that, if you wish.” Kylo said. “Just...reach out your hand. Close your eyes.”

Poe did. “I’m not exactly feeling anything yet.”

”Open your mind.” Kylo’s voice was deep and soft and musical in his ears. Kriff, it shouldn’t have given him shivers like it did. “Feel the ship in the Force. It’s not just an object; it has energy, it has weight...”

Poe did. And for a moment, he swore he could actually see the ship in his mind, wedged in the swamp water. The ship, his X-wing — it was heavy, such a strain...

”Keep holding it in your mind. That’s it. Feel it rising, upwards, upwards...”

There was some sort of squelch, even as the X-wing rose — it wavered, but Kylo said, “Keep concentrating. Think.”

His hands rested on Poe’s shoulders. Poe couldn’t help but feel a not-unpleasant shiver at the touch. 

“Open your eyes.” Kylo said. 

Poe did. The X-wing had surfaced, filthy without a doubt, but nonetheless intact. He was tired, but Poe also felt a strange sort of elation, a strange sort of excitement. “I — we did it!” It was something that wasn’t easy to admit, but it was true. 

“You did,” Kylo said. “I mostly provided guidance where I could.”

”Yeah. Though...can you get your hands off my shoulders?”

Kylo did. For a moment, as he felt Kylo across the Bond, Poe could swear that he actually felt hurt. Affronted. What Kylo could have to be hurt about, Poe would be damned if he knew. 

Kylo summoned the TIE fighter from the depths of the swamp, and it was there that Poe couldn’t help but feel a sort of awe and despair all in one. 

Kylo’s lightsaber was busted, and Poe’s emergency rations were ruined. Even as Kylo hurled the lightsaber across the swamp in frustration, Poe sighed. “Could you...control your temper at least a little?”

”Without the lightsaber, I’m useless.” And more than that, Poe could feel that it wasn’t just the lightsaber that Kylo was upset about. It was —

“What did Snoke do to you?” Poe said. 

“Nothing that’s your concern,” Kylo said. 

Poe sighed. “We had a deal. Don’t tell me you’re pulling a Vader. Not that you don’t want to be him...”

Kylo exhaled. It was clear he was trying to control his temper. Then, "He did nothing that a Master wouldn’t do to their apprentice.”

”But you haven’t hurt me,” Poe said. “Not...more than you have already.”

Kylo nodded. “I suppose not.”

They sat on the logs, and Kylo spoke. His eyes seemed trained very far away, like he’d rather be anywhere but right here. Then, “I was nineteen when I went to him.”

”I know,” Poe said. 

“What he did to me was...varied. He could alternate between praising me as better than his other apprentices, and calling me a failure. The last time he hurt me...” Kylo trailed off. More than agony broadcasting across their link was embarrassment, like somehow Snoke was to blame. 

Poe swallowed. “Just tell me as much as you need to,” he said. 

“He...wasn’t pleased with my failure with the scavenger.”

”I can see that.” Poe should have been pleased that Rey managed to get one in on Kylo. Now, looking at the thin, odd line on his face that was still healing, Poe couldn’t help but feel the opposite of satisfied. 

Kylo continued. “He shocked me — ”

”What?” Poe could swear he felt like Kylo had stabbed him. 

“It wasn’t,” Kylo said, “Anything that a Master wouldn’t have done to their apprentice. In the Old Republic era, in the era of the Empire, Sith did worse — ”

”Forget that,” Poe said. “I’m...sorry he did that, Ben.”

For a moment, he swore that Kylo went completely tense, so tense he almost seemed to shake, before relaxing, seeming almost exhausted in that moment. “I don’t deserve your pity.”

”On this front,” Poe said, “You do.”

He reached out, touched Kylo’s hand. Kylo looked at him, clearly surprised — had no one touched him in a way meant to cause pain in a long time? — before nodding. It was the closest thing to a thank you that Kylo Ren could manage, Poe could imagine. 

“We should get replacements for those ruined rations,” Kylo said. 

“No kidding.” Poe said. 

They headed from the logs to a forest. The sort of forest that Poe couldn’t imagine going into without back-up. At least on this planet, the enemy of his enemy was his friend. 

“Follow my lead,” he said to Kylo, before they headed into what Poe’s mind was already terming the creepy dark forest of doom. 


	3. No One Hurts You But Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kylo and Poe go hunting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

The forest was quiet. Too quiet. Of course, Poe knew that it was just a matter of time before something, anything, charged out at them. He turned to Kylo, handed him a vibroblade. “Not that I trust you with it,” he said. “I just...don’t want you dead.”

Kylo merely nodded. 

It was in that moment that heavy footsteps sounded down the path. Poe drew his blaster. Kylo drew his vibroblade, and it was then that some sort of spiked creature lumbered towards them. Poe thought almost of a zakkeg or a hsiss that Ben had shown him in old Jedi texts before he —

And Poe barely had time to finish that thought before the thing charged at them. Kylo turned to Poe. “Focus on freezing it. Picture it in your mind.”

”Don’t have to picture it; it’s trying to kill us!” Poe said. Still, he did, and in mid-leap, the creature froze. 

It was lucky that it didn’t tear anyone’s face off. Kylo stabbed it, impaled it, and sighed in disgust. “A pity I couldn’t do worse to it. No one hurts you but me.”

”Thanks for that,” Poe said sarcastically. And yet, even as they headed back down the path, Kylo carrying the creature’s corpse, Poe couldn’t help but feel like Kylo wasn’t really telling him the truth. 

***

They got a fire going, and Poe had to admit he was looking forward to having actual food as opposed to just emergency rations. It was also a relief that Kylo hadn’t managed to set the shed on fire. Even as they split the animal in half, chowing down on their portion of the meal, Poe said, “You were lying back there, weren’t you?”

Kylo snorted. “Please. I wouldn’t be so obvious about it.”

”Says the man who’s as bad at lying as I am.” Poe took a bite of the meat. It was juicy and filling, he’d say that much. “Why did you mentally invade me anyway?”

Kylo looked pained. Poe continued. “It wasn’t necessary. Not in any form.”

”I never liked the interrogations,” Kylo said. “I had hoped that I could get the map out without hurting you, but Snoke said there was no other way. But it was more than that. He framed it as a test. Could I hurt the man who...was my friend in order to get what I wanted?”

Kylo was hiding something. Poe knew that much. “So I was just a...test for you?”

Kylo sighed. “In Snoke’s eyes, you were. I argued, I tried to persuade, I tried flattering him. It was no use. He...well, there are techniques in the Force that Snoke was exceptionally skilled in. Against which I had no defense.”

”He choked you.” Poe just knew it was the case. 

“Yes. There was a moment, just a moment, when I hated you for not going through the same pain I did. I think that was Snoke’s goal all along.”

”But it wasn’t my fault!” Poe said. “Besides, you could have come to me. I could have protected you.”

No one could have stood a chance against Snoke.”

”You and Rey did.”

A sigh from Kylo. “It took a lot of trickery.”

Poe couldn’t say how to react, if he was to be honest. He was angry — now for a different reason. Why didn’t Kylo just leave? Why did he have to go to Snoke in the first place? 

“I could have helped you,” he said. “I could have saved you from yourself. If you let me.”

Kylo ran a hand through his hair. “You’re not all-powerful.”

”But I could have...you know what, forget it. You probably have no idea what I’m talking about.”

Poe slept away from Kylo, on the opposite side of the shed, struggling with an uncomfortable fear: that maybe, just maybe, he wasn’t strong enough, or good enough, to save Kylo. 


End file.
